Thousands of cancer sufferers in Northern Ireland are being denied 38 life-extending drugs that are available in England.

The true horror of the postcode lottery has been discovered by SDLP health spokesman Fearghal McKinney.

The MLA has uncovered how thousands of terminally-ill cancer sufferers here are facing an earlier death compared with those living in England, Scotland and Wales.

The shocking discovery means that even though Belfast boasts a world-renowned cancer centre, patients here are losing out in benefiting first-hand from their ground-breaking drug discoveries.

Mr McKinney said: “Basically if you live in Brixton you could get these drug but if you live in Bangor you can’t.

“We have one of the most advanced cancer centres on these islands trialing them [these drugs] but the people here won’t be able to take advantage of them.

“This isn’t just a marginal inequality, it’s a gross inequality. These are our most vulnerable people.

“These drugs are life extending but for the people who need them they really are life saving."

The South Belfast MLA called on the Health Minister Edwin Poots to create a cancer fund similar to schemes that exist in England, Wales and Scotland that would call a halt on the health postcode lottery.

He added: “It’s a simple decision to make. England, Wales and Scotland all have their own schemes.

“He could do this at a stroke of a pen.

“It won’t need any new legislation. Research shows it would cost between £5million to £6million [annually] but that’s in a budget of £1.2billion for the Belfast Health Trust alone.

He added: “Every time this issue has been raised in the past the health minister has dodged this issue of inequality, and suggested that we need to get rid of prescription charges first.

“These are two distinct issues and the SDLP is calling on the minister to say, quite clearly, that he is going to address this fundamental cancer drugs inequality.”

Allister Murphy, 57, from Belfast, who suffers from terminal prostate cancer, called for a cancer fund to be set up.

He said: “It’s discriminatory and wouldn’t cost a lot of money to fix it.

“In the big picture it wouldn’t pay the policing bill for Ardoyne but it would make a massive difference to thousands of people’s lives.

“The Belfast cancer centre is a UK centre of excellence. Our cancer research facilities are second to none but people here can’t get the drugs.

“The only chance is if people are lucky enough to get on trials.

“But the people taking up the trials aren’t even those who will receive the fruits of those trials long term.

“If I lived in England I would have applied to the cancer fund for the drug enzalutamide but I can’t here; there is no fund.

“I’m forced to undergo a second bout of chemotherapy because I can’t get access to this drug.

“Because of restrictions the vast majority of men in Northern Ireland can’t access this drug."